it takes me about 45 years to -- takes me about four to five years to write a book. brian: what change in your mind for years ago to now? stacy: looking back, did you ever hear what george elliott said, beginning the book as a young woman and ended as old woman? i feel like we just came that same distance. everything changed in my mind. i do not generally go into a book with an agenda. i really such a research with an -- i really start to research with an open mind that i can maintain so i can listen to every possible voice and current. and i did not have an overriding theory, an overriding sense of where it would take me. the materials and found the voices that carried through the story. i began to see patterns and one earlier, superimposed on what would happen in massachusetts and begin to understand the political strains and hear from other girls from the 17th

century not less early the was -- not necessarily involved in salem. and the pieces began to come together. i am glad to say it would take four or five years. brian: in update about the whole story in case there are people like i was who deny know very -- who did not know very much about it. what were the years you're talking about? stacy: really nine months. the witchcraft breaks out, first diagnosed in february 1692. the crisis, snowball over the -- the crisis will snowball over the next few months. the tighter incident is over by the fall. really nine months from start to end. i think largely, conceptions of it are very skewed. wheres not an incident men are choosing women. an incident all of the victims

are women. we had five male victims. we hang to the witches. in addition to the speed, so much encrusted myth and misunderstanding here. i thought it was important to dispel. brian: where is salem in massachusetts? stacy: northeastern massachusetts. 20 or 30 minutes from boston. brian: how many lived there? stacy: you had 2 salem spurious -- you had two salem's, salem town which was refined port city second only to boston and the province and then salem village where the witchcraft breaks out. and five miles down the road, a bunch of farmers who moved from salem town because the farmland is better. they have no authorities of their own in the village. when they say witchcraft is broken out, they have to ride into salem village to appeal to

the justices to issue arrest warrants for people they accused. brian: we have a picture from one of the websites of the money meant there -- monument there. is it that big a deal, still? interestingly, there are 2 salem's. salem village today has treated the history with a certain amount of respectful distance . salem town has embraced the history in a somewhat commercialized way. more so since the 1970's when bewitched films of their and it was possible to confronted his history which nobody really wanted to talk about for some time. salem town, as it was then, salem today, has become the best place to buy a broomstick or vampire fangs. kind of witchcraft central.

moment and a describe a moment of witchcraft. if you were there when on the swirling the stuff went around, give us a moment. was a a central incident diabolical sadness where 50 people confessed midway through the crisis where confessions were very frequent. and different ways and adding elaborate details. a greater number of accused witches from the neighboring communities, not often salem, will talk about how they attend a diabolical sabbath in the same village minister. a large banquet table. they will discuss the menu and discuss some of the feast and how they arrived at it by various aerial means. some people say they've flown on sticks, some carried on the devil's shoulders.

most people fly like our neighbors or children or friends. they apparently attended this satanic ritual and complicit in a giant conspiracy to overthrow not only the churches of new england and the state. brian: how many people were killed in this timeframe? stacy: 19 people were hanged the one crushed to death under stone for refusing to enter a plea. brian: what are they guilty of? stacy: witchcraft. this is the difficult part, witchcraft is capital offense, a -- after adultery, it was the second capital offense in massachusetts law. believes inglander it, even those who themselves innocent. it may seem it was superstitious medieval concept but to an early modern american, it was as real

as heat or light. the crimes of witchcraft is a heinous charge and of their -- and up there with murder in something people feel as a possible existence. brian: i do not realize how often i would see the word "witch" and i want to show you a montage of places on tv where it is used. >> on the team to the witchhunt against the community group. >> that statement is dangerous. because of his vision were to come true, it would be a nation of witch. -- of which hunters. >> is a political witch hunt. >> a muslim witchhunt from mccarthyism. >> he should not be handling the investigation. he has no credibility, and it's clearly part of a witchhunt. >> a partisan witchhunt does not quite add up.

stacy: it was a seminal moment. astonishing, isn't it? brian: what is a witch? a 17th century new englander would have defined it as someone who was basically in confederacy with the devil and someone, usually a woman but not always who signed a pact with the devil signed in blood which confirmed him or her unnatural powers and with that she was off to recruit others through this diabolical -- to do diabolical deeds. sometimes she could transform herself into other animals and into cats or dogs. she could get the menagerie to do her bidding. sometimes she could fly and

be witching your hay. brian: you know, you know this -- ou had an interview of course "the new york times" has been a lot of time on your book, good and bad. you had an interview sometime ago. and it only thing i want to ask about is the question, what was the most interesting book you read in researching "the witches: salem 1692?" and you said hands-down -- did you read all nine volumes? stacy: every single word. they are big, but in all fairness, this is the catalog of offenses and abominations. it is like reading a tabloid newspaper except 17th-century style. you have people being prosecuted for drunkenness and trespassing and fornication. it is heaven. women smashing constables on the head. men throwing their wives of the -- out in the snow.

every possible grievance the courts have dealt with prior to salem. so the detail of what the life was like and where the stress among these families and individuals are. what irritates them in and who -- what irritates them and who annoys them? how many times the pigs get in the corn? you get an understanding of what preoccupies these people. some of these people will reappear later in witchcraft accusations. brian: where did you read them? stacy: most at the new york public library. brian: how long did it take? stacy: is a long time but i kept going back. it is truly addictive reading. i wanted to use in the book so i would go back to make sure i had every possible detail in place. brian: are they online?

stacy: yes, i think they are, i tend not to read online but i think they are. bribing it one point did you -- brian: at what point did you read it? stacy: part way through. i knew it would be a big large amount of material to get through. i usually start with primary sources, the witchcraft papers and i circle back to those sources by way of the larger context. and in these volumes very much reported that larger context. gauging the temperature and feel and sound of new england. brian: one of your reviewer's said there have been 500 books written about the salem witch trials and 1000 phd -- what do you call them? dissertations? is that true? stacy: it seems that it will be three times that many. there is no corner of american history so thoroughly researched. brian: why would your publisher think it would sell again?

stacy: this somewhat a fresh -- this is a somewhat fresh take on the trials and that it is not it is a driven book but an idea. my sense is you can understand these people and take for granted the belief in witchcraft and get into their minds and homes, you can see how this actually could happen. it would not seem as distant and improbable and diluted as it otherwise sounds to us when you say bunch of people hang for witchcraft in 1692. that was not something i do i -- that was something i did not know had been done before. more of it, new things that kept appearing. other things i had not seen. all of which came to me in the midst of the research. brian: you found this in 1997. it is "the simpsons."

>> you are all here found guilty of the crime of witchcraft. i sentence you hags to be burned at the stakes. >> fire it up, boys. >> ha-ha. >> see you in hell, seymour. >> why don't they use their power to escape? >> that sounds like witchcraft to me. >> never mind. >> that is 75 so that should show god who side were on. >> we have many more to incinerate. [laughter] brian: your reaction? stacy: that is priceless. there are some pieces of that that is so very resonant particularly the whole -- the tribal feel to somehow purging society of an element.

-- of an element that you may not smile upon. one of the young ministers at the center of the crisis and it is duty. purifying society which comes naturally to a puritan, it is a moral obligation. is this infestation of which tches is a sign of god's sprawling on new england. the devil has dissented on new england and a badge of honor to prove new england's piety. put through the trial because new england hates the devil the most. we are exceptional in some way. that's why we have been chosen to confront this satanic plague. and somehow that resonated with what you just showed, it is amazing.

brian: in the late 1600s, who did the people in salem think the devil was? stacy: they think the devil is a real physical presence. witch isho is alleged more or less working with him. part of the accusations , especially given the way we think of salem is that wealthy merchants were accused of witches and sea captains were accused of witches. some of those men become before ome before the justices who ever known there for years come the justices -- it is such a strange reversal here. these teenage girls should be running the show and their words carry more weight than these long-established friendships to disintegrate. brian: going from back then

today, could this happen, and what is the change in the system? it is a bit of a stretch because you go to the way the law is and how it is evolved. stacy:, first of all, we have a justice system. these charges were not held to what we consider modern law. hearsay is perfectly acceptable, innocent until proven guilty was not yet in place. there were no lawyers by the way i should say at the time. the courtroom is an extremely unruly place. one piece of it. we also do not believe in or prosecute witchcraft anymore. piling on that kind of mishap, the exacting false confessions which happened in salem, the public shaming which we tended -- tend to do with the internet

at our fingertips certainly resonates still with what happened in 1692. i like to think once the case gets to court, it would proceed, -- it would not proceed as it 100%n the salem witch case , conviction rate of that year for anybody accused. brian: in the pr they send out, it assess "aside from suffrage, the salem witch trials represent the only moment when women played a central role in american history keeping -- her --again, exploring the questions about the same settlers resonate deeply, how do women express themselves when they are meant to be silent?" is that really true? stacy: it is certainly a moment when women's voices are leading the way here. women are very disruptive presence in early new england. have been for years.

in this case, the girl's views, it trumps everyone else's account. i would have a hard time naming another moment where you have a group of teenage girls, except for joan of arc. teenage girls whose word are taken as sterling. they are not only accusing witches, they are instructing the court as to how witchcraft works and how they should proceed. they are used as visionaries to diagnose witchcraft. people are bringing relatives to them to say who is afflicting this victim. brian: what is the first instance, i know that witchcraft -- a lot of it before then, where did it start and where did you start? a long historyd of witchcraft prosecution so the idea comes to new england with the settlers.

many of them from parts of new england where witchcraft trials had been popular. they carry this idea with them, what they do not have because by 1692, england is no longer prosecuting witches. they don't have is any of the more recent literature which expresses some skepticism about witchcraft and how it works. they are the living as something of a time warp. those flyers have not fully penetrated new england ali of the ministry have seen they do not solve. there have been previous cases, about 100 cases prior in new england in only six, only hang six people until this time. one of the things that set salem is not the newness, it's the hundred percent conviction rate

the fury for which this all seems to take place. brian: you have a very long tour, book tour scheduled. stacy: i am glad you noticed. brian: what kind of questions are you getting from the audience that shows up at your event? stacy: half of america seems to descend from someone, some salem family and the other half in the -- starred crucible when they were in high school. how much all of us, part of the reason we remain obsessed because we first, contact as adolescence. and we never quite got over what he read as adolescents. somehow that seems to build on the other. the injustice of it, the injustice of it and the fact the mystery cannot completely be solved is why people come back to it.

brian: why did arthur miller right "the crucible?" stacy: he saw parallels between mccarthyism and witchcraft. he writes about interestingly. he goes to salem to research. he discovers that in salem, nobody would talk about it. in the 1950's, the subject was very much taboo. this was an incident like many atrocities, several generations after all but in this case many generations after it did. no one is willing to engage in a conversation about it. he finds a strange echo of his own upbringing, the old testament voices he had known as a child in much of the witchcraft testimony which i thought was fascinating. brian: here he is back in 1991 talking about it. >> what i think salem means or

should mean is that here some people refuse to compromise with the government and tell lies to save lives. we can be misled to appeals to a certain kind appear at the -- a certain kind of surety or belief. it happens all of the time. very quickly, we generate a following among certain people by telling them that if you follow him -- brian: that was 24 years ago. are politicians still lying? stacy: i have been living in the 17th century.

i think there are people we could ask that question. i think the absolute is street he is referring to is still very much with us. i do not think i know that piece of footage. the interesting thing about that is the parallel with salem if you confessed in 1692 committee -- you lived. insisted on your innocence, you hung. brian: that came from a documentary called "witch city." stacy: it is wonderful. it is about how salem cashed in on its history and commercialized. brian: when did you first read the crucible? stacy: i made it through high school without reading it. i read it when my kids read it for the first time. i went back to it when i was working on the book. brian: you have a massachusetts history? stacy: i grew up in a small massachusetts town.

when you start to explore the relationship among families have known each other for many years and many years of unfinished business and talk about the generations that go back several generations, i had some vague understanding. brian: what town? stacy i grew up in adams, : massachusetts. brian: you went to williams college? stacy: i did. i went to school in andover for several years. it was the hardest hit by the witchcraft, one in 10 people accuse. -- one in 10 people are accused. i never knew any of them. that was a complete surprise to me when i went back for materials. i was in salem and boston repeatedly for about three years

. brian: what are the most valuable archives? stacy: a great deal in the pbx museum. we have a hearing papers. about 1000 pages of arrest warrants in early depositions and execution orders, constables' reports. terrific stuff in the archives. a fabulous archive including the church record book which is the minister. some great 17th-century texts. the american society have the bulk of the cottonmouth papers. -- cotton mather papers. there are terrific ministerial diary's from 17th century to we -- but we discover, for example,

the minister who has kept a very meticulous account of every time he had his haircut or fan his horse. he will skip over 1692. you are reading the room is getting every detail of life in you realize, weight, what i'm looking for is missing. brian: in my life, i remember the name i first heard about it and it seems to be the biggest name out of this book, maybe not. he was only 29 at the time. stacy: quite brilliant. the son of the most esteemed minister in massachusetts. a prodigy. he graduated from harvard at 11 and preached his first sermon at 16. brian: what did it mean to graduate from harvard in the 1690's? stacy: you would be a minister. most of these men would become ministers. many of them started early compared to today. but still he was an exceptional mind. quite a brilliant man.

in the course of his lifetime published more than 300 books. astonishingly brilliant and accumulative writer. brian: what were the 300 books about? stacy: most of them are about doctrine and those sermons pouring out of him. brian: i did read that you are really tired of reading puritan sermons. not good is probably for one's health. it is very exacting religion. a very bleak religion. you are essentially living within acute uncertainty as to what might happen to your soul. and it is a very difficult balancing act. you are living in a state of sin: heading from sin toward grace.

it is not a comfortable place to be under any circumstance. brian: what did you find? stacy: semi willard is one of the other ministers that samuel willard is another minister. he anticipates the crisis and writes one book and will write another one afterwards. brian: another video clip, monty python and the holy grail. let's watch this and get your reaction to it. >> what do you do with witches? >> good. why do witches burn? >> because they're made of wood? >> good. how do we tell whether she is made of wood? >> build a bridge out of her.

>> can you not also make a bridge out of stone? >> yes. >> does a would sink in water? >> no, it floats. >> what also floats? >> bread, apples. churches. a duck. a -- >> exactly. >> if she was the same as a duck , she's made of wood. >> and therefore? >> a witch. [laughter] brian: you admit from time to time, no one is really figured all of this out?

stacy: we will never get into the minds of the first afflicted girls, what were they linking -- what were they thinking and feeling? what they had and was not in evil spell upon them. don't you want to discuss at that? it is genius, don't you think? the joy of being able to accuse someone of witchcraft. whatever you want to call it. and also the science behind it. when you mentioned cotton mather, with the fascinations are these men are witchcraft experts and they have read voluminous shelves. they have read a lot of witchcraft. very erudite men who knows the science. what will happen is people will be subjected to very clinical tests and examined physically and what they could do the courtroom.

one test almost as good as floating a witch was whether you could recite at the lord's prayer. shockingly, almost everyone walks into her hearing room and is asked to recite the lord's prayer which is something a witch was understood not to do would stumble over the words. it tells you how stressful the procedure of being interrogated a by authorities must have been. the only person who seems to have been able to recite the lord's prayer as a minister who will hang hole on his way up the gallows will deliver a last minute sermon, a very fiery sermons. and he will flawlessly recite of the lord for it will incite the crowd about what have we done. perhaps he is not a witch. we have a perfect set of procedures we can follow to figure out whether someone is in fact guilty.

ryan: when he did it start in salem? stacy: early january are late february, two little girls, nine-year-old and 11-year-old shutter and shrieked and shriek. they interrupt ministers and will hide in small corners of the room. though citizens were more or less identical to symptoms described by cotton mather in a 1680 boston case of witchcraft when entirely family are afflicted. and the woman who lay accused or who is accuse in that case will hang. that case is known to everybody in salem at the time. brian: how did the trials begin? what started that? stacy: as to the time of the first of afflictions begin, there is no political administration in place in massachusetts who has been without a government for three years.

it seems know what to try the case. a little unclear if the acting governor could have set up in court if he wanted to. a new governor arrives in may. the prisons are filled because it's taking on exponential life of its own. and he will set up a witchcraft court that will set up early in the summer to start to try the cases. he pulls nine men, five who has to be in the room at each trial. the chief justice is acting governor who is a justice who has been the legal does best legal authority at that point. he will proceed according to british law at the time. brian: what were the ages of the people accused? stacy: everybody from a 5-year-old girl to an 80 year old. there is a randomness. some of our church members and some are wealthy and some are not. it will run the gamut. brian: who was allowed to bring the charges?

stacy: the government is bringing the charges. they are charging the people with a maliciously and feloniously practicing witchcraft. brian: how long were the trials for any individual? stacy: they seem to have been shockingly short. they were fairly -- justice was fairly rapid. a trial could move very quickly. there is no counsel for the defense. very little back and forth. the justices themselves as for the much like the police interrogator would act and a lot of the testimony is written. people move quite rapidly. go through entire case, several cases in the course of one day. brian: how long did it take to be hanged? stacy: that is pretty swift. the idea here is we are about to eradicate a malignant force among us, the sooner the better.

moreover, people in the jails, the massachusetts jails are bulging with accused witches. they need to get on top of this and return matters to normal. they need to plow through with some speed. brian: here is another documentary clip from "witchhunt" and is from the history channel. [video clip] >> the afflicted in salem through their fits in units, convenient times such as when people come by to see them. this is leading many to believe that the girls were simply faking it. if the girls are not play acting, it is a deadly game. they can be accused of witchcraft themselves and hanged.

pressured by a reverent to name the witch who is affecting them, abigail williams go to an obvious scapegoat. tituba. documents describe her and her husband as indian, as they are slaves from barbados. she is dark skinned. dark like the puritans enemies. ryan: who was tituba? stacy: she is a slave who lives in the household and seems to come from boston and lives with the family. we know very little about her origins. she probably has lived in barbados with him earlier. as she has gone to the history largely because of the crucible. a sort of voodoo practicing enchantress who has told fortunes with the girls.

more currently, she is one of the first three accused witches and she is only one of those first of three who will confess. in the courtroom, the hearing room i should say, she will deliver story very early on of how there are nine which is a foot and she is flown to boston and there are -- she hints at a conspiracy. she launches the story in action because once she confessed to witchcraft, it's undeniable it is at work. by the time the fourth person is accused and says i am instant, i know that the witchcraft, much less likely to be believed because someone else confessed. tituba will be interrogated and seems to be playing a sort of, collaborating in a way with the justice who depose her. he is asking questions to wishes giving extremely publishes given -- she is giving the answers he wants.

the questions are leading and she is delivering bountifully. she does not seem to be ever consulted and she will stay in prison longer than anyone else. 15 months. brian: how did you decide what to believe? it seems like a crazy story, what is the evidence? stacy: she says she got a liberal that in every broom and crashed on a route. i was fairly certain that she wasn't telling the truth. the devil happened to look like cotton mather had described him in a printed book, i this all where he may have gotten that imagery. you see a lot of of [indiscernible]

what is being preached a leading and what comes out in the court testimony. you also see a very on at go between the political conspiracy to overthrow the earlier governor, a coup against the british governor and a lot of testimony from that coup will get replayed. i did i think it would is a -- a complete coincidence. brian: you mentioned cotton mather and there is a show call salem. a 30 second clip of cotton mather. [video clip] >> the devil will never let a promised land be built here without a fight, without a battle. witches with the deadly malice are the most malignant and insidious weapon of that. >> probably the smartest man on earth at that time.

he was done with harvard by the time he was 14. he could speak eight languages, including several indian language. self-taught. brilliant. brian: the gentleman there is adam simon, the cocreator of this series. stacy: in the earlier witchcraft cases, the women accused is also unable to say the lord's prayer but she seems only speak gaelic, one language that cotton mather did not speak. he did not understand what she was trying to say. he may have spoken many languages but not solve the ones they might have come in handy. he rings a huge amount of evangelical mileage out of this incident. the role he played witches to inflame, afterwards, the belief in witchcraft will persist after the trials have ended.

cotton mather himself will observe afflicted girls after the whole salem tragedy has ended and be very critical on what and he knows not to publish. still very much invested in the invisible world. still very invested in the idea of witchcraft. he continues to believe that he never intended to publish that salem served a purpose. and that this will be considered to be a miscarriage of justice or a tragedy in fact had helped to fill the pews and he said, nothing was lost. leaving aside the 20 innocent lives. brian: what was a puritan? stacy: somebody who do not believe the church was yet sufficiently pure and the work of the reformation was not

complete and had paired religion -- basicts space sake essentials. brian: hundred people in the community were puritan? stacy: almost everyone. there are baptists and quakers, neither who fared particularly well. while the crowd was now looking, trying to establish a bible commonwealth. this is really a theocracy at this point. at anyone whonce practices any other faith. lady: if you were a young and you watched people be tried and hanged, why would you go on to believe in rich craft -- witchcraft? stacy: it is deeply rooted in the religion. the devil's existence is necessary to religion. faith in witchcraft and the devil go hand-in-hand.

it is perfectly possible to think the courts had prosecuted the wrong people, which is what people seem to believe in 1692. witches may exist but it does not mean the court found the right ones. a wonderful, very equitable, fair-minded minister who writes about the trials, john hale, is of the belief that perhaps they have proceeded wrongly and have not been wise enough and how to witch. y a which -- quit maybe innocents have hanged but guilty parties have escaped. brian: you have gotten quite a bit of publicity. in particular "the new york times." why? what about "cleopatra"? you sold 800,000 books. stacy: that is what the publisher said. i have three children, i'm very grateful. i have not been reading the reviews, forgive me. i hope to.

i have not been pretty i get a -- i have not been. i did a piece for "the new york times" about salem and embracing the story in the end. and i did a q&a with a book review. brian: a question about the q&a, is that something you speak or something right out and give you the questions? stacy: you write out the answers. brian: you can control? stacy: to some degree. brian: when you asked a by your favorite authors, the same was you told us four years ago. stacy: i am very loyal. i tend to read to read the same books over and over. i've never entirely outgrown. brian: one piece was by alexander. you said everybody goes through a salem phase. everybody? stacy: you do not?

brian: no, i did not. stacy: made i should say every -- many adolescent girls go through a salem phase. you cannot get too close to the supernatural as a kid and not get to salem. maybe it's a female thing. a crisis that is so much led by these adolescent girls. i do not know. a lot of people have said they had a salem phase. as did i. brian: you said is annoying to have the lack of closure of the same instinct that keeps us going back because we cannot make sense of the whole thing. stacy: i think there's gnawing feeling, it is true of many, the kennedy assassination would be another obvious parallel. those moments in history that seem to defy logic and diagnosis and being able -- and being put perfectly to bed, tied with a

nice, tight and so many moving pieces as so many, so textually bridged. salem in particular because of the moving pieces. it is so textually rich. brian: do you know jane kaminsky? stacy: i do not but i heard she did not write a nice review. brian: it was interesting and then a snarky review on november 1. stacy: you will be hitting me with it for the first time. i should warn you. painful on tv. brian: i think a chance to answer what she is saying here. who knows what she meant. by on any measure, she is from harvard -- stacy: hmm. i wonder what i did to her in a

previous lifetime. ofch does get to the idea witchcraft. so many people are settling scores there are long-standing and wondering -- brian: what your reaction? stacy: terrie miller said it is a moment in history that utterly fascinating but has no other repercussion. you can arrive at history without mentioning salem and it will make note difference. that is true to some extent. the resonance is what we see today. when national security threats are so much on our mind and terrorism is so much on our minds. the modern resonances strike me as painfully loud at times. brian: i'm going to read some more of it area did -- more of

it. stacy: how kind of you. brian: i wonder if there's a difference between how a phd of harvard and somebody who's not a phd? stacy: you and i both know the answer to that question. brian: have you ever been called a menschenkenner? stacy: i do not know that word. i would consider high praise. that is why most of us read fiction, after all, to get to the heart. of human nature. brian: it gets better. stacy: that is interesting.

what i am getting to, people who have seen characters back at the people. trying to reconstitute them as people with whom we could relate. the same conjuring of the inexplicable that so annoys us is which tribes the witchcraft in the first place. people trying to solve the mysteries of their lives. why did the child die? did it have something to do with the neighbor appeared at the door moments before? they are trying to solve mysteries. resurrecting them as real people seemed to be a way of accessing the story and making this whole incident makes sense, as opposed

to looking at them if they were walking characters in a thesis. brian: do you consider yourself a historian? stacy: primarily i consider myself a writer. it is my job to make the reader want to turn the page. to tell a thrilling and cogent story. brian: i've got so many more quotes by will give you one more from this review. which i can see is a very pleasant experience. stacy: thank you. stacy: hmm. i do not know, is it true? you read the book. brian: i just wonder what does it feel like having spent four years in the book and have somebody take a shot at the new york times like this? stacy: do you think it is possible we dated the same boy

in high school? [laughter] brian: one last clip. the impact still in this world an international basis from august 8, 2015. this story coming up of india. let's watch. [video clip] >> and drag out of their homes in the dead of night. beaten with sticks and killed. 45 kilometers from the capital. the entire village had ganged up against them, accusing them of witchcraft. the five women were killed in front of their families. 50 people have been taken into custody from the village so far. according to government figures, more than 400 people killed in witchcraft allegations, most of the women.

brian: how much of this still goes on? stacy: sobering. it goes and apparently with some regularity. largely in africa. i did not know that particular story. it tends to be crimes against women. it tends to be a way for a lightning rod of anger against women. most of them tend to be misogynist incidents. brian: go back to the end of the trials and i want to ask you why it stopped? stacy: not entirely clear why is stopped. you had a new governor in place. he will never refer to the witchcraft without saying the witchcraft or possession. he does not seem to be entirely convinced that witchcraft, he is a very expedient and not devout puritan.

he is reached out by the end of the summer to the new york ministers. he does not feel as if he isn't the best of hands with the massachusetts ministers. they submit a rather more skeptical take on the whole trial process. the nature of the evidence is what is at issue. a very eloquent petition for one of the accused was essentially said where not getting our proper legal rights here. cotton mather's father has weighed in with a vote for mercy. the numbers have become almost impossible. it has become unwieldy to prosecute this many people. his accusations have reached a very high level and getting to be winter which is a very inconvenient time of year to be listening to the witchcraft testimony when you are meant to be home harvesting your crops and filling yourself there -- filling your seller for the winter. some combination of these factors come together. the trials are shut down. the skeptics can speak without accusations.

brian: back to their review, one thing i wanted a cleared up. she said you had 8 researchers? stacy: that is astonishing. brian: did you? stacy: i do know how many i had. i had columbia students, mfa students. i would pay them and i would give them advice with what they were working on, they would xerox things for me, or get me puritan sermons which i liked to read in hard copy and not online. brian: puts it the cover of the screen and tell us where this cover comes from. it is up there. stacy: it was a photo shoot done by genius creative director and three girls who met in a downtown studio in new york all

-- new york. all of the dress is authentic. and they were put through a series of poses. there was a fourth girl in this particular shot but the sense of having the asymmetry and emptiness and the eeriness to the side. brian: did you get to approve it? stacy: we got to talk about it but it was the publisher's call. the way the girls capture your eye and it's unclear from the title if it they are the witches or who they are is a rather arresting. brian: the last time you are here, you had three children. how old are they? stacy: 15, 22, 24. brian: and your husband lives in canada? stacy: that has not changed. that is still the same. brian: can you tell us about your next book? stacy: i cannot because when i come back, you cannot say i did not finish on time.

i'm open to any ideas. brian: you finish on time. stacy: approximately. i have a bit of a glimmer. once you start to go down that road, i tend tell fall hook line and sinker into the work. right now i want to be able to talk about the book and write about the book and i've done a couple of pieces. brian: thank you, stacy schiff. the name of the book is "the witches: salem 1692." thank you for talking with us. stacy: thank you, brian. ♪ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> for free transcripts or to give us your comments, visit us at q-and-a.org. programs are also available as

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after that, the house of representatives gavels in for legislative business. having business before the honorable supreme court of the united states are admonished to give their attention. tonight, our country faces a grave danger. we are faced with the possibility that the steel industry will be shut down at midnight tonight. i am taking two actions. first, i'm directing the secretary to take possession of the steel mills to keep them operating. in 1952, the united states was involved in a military conflict with north korea. at home, a dispute with the steel industry and its union had come to a head. >> they needed steel for munitions, tanks, jeeps, all of

those things that you needed in the second world war, as well. if the steel industry went on a strike, that was going to be a real problem because it is basic to the things that an army and navy and air force need to fight a war. >> to avoid a disruption of to theion crucial military, president truman seized control of the mills and the pending strike was called off and steel production continued. however, the steel companies disagreed with the action and took the lawsuit all the way to the supreme court. we will examine how the court ruled in the case of youngstown sheet and tube versus sawyer and the impact on presidential powers. joining us will be michael gerhard, professor at the university of north carolina law school, and william powell,

professor at the university of chicago. that is coming up on the next "landmark cases" live tonight at 9:00 eastern on c-span, c-span 3, and c-span radio. for background on each case while you watch, order your copy of the "landmark cases" companion book. it is available at www.c-span.org/landmarkcases. segals morning, matthew looks at the issues important to millennials in the 2016 campaign. about civil asset forfeiture's and how much money the federal government can stay without seizing. later, florida politics and the influence on the 2016

presidential campaign. as always, we take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. -- "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: the u.s. flag is at half staff this morning on the capital building and it all federal and military facilities across the united states, as well as the u.s. consulates and embassies around the world. it will remain at half staff until thursday at sunset to honor the victims of last week's paris. in the house and senate are scheduled to be in senate -- in session later today. some american lawmakers and state governors are concerned that would be attackers could find their way into the united states b